


Empty Sky

by Poppelganger



Series: The Many Vanishings of Sanae Kochiya [2]
Category: Touhou Project, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Fantasy, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-10 22:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3306380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poppelganger/pseuds/Poppelganger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the keukegen incident, Sanae takes several weeks to focus on her duties as a wind priestess again.  But the peace and quiet is interrupted by an incident that has Gensokyo's strongest on edge with an unknown foe lurking in the outside world.  As coincidences begin piling up, it becomes apparent that there is something bigger at work pulling the strings, something that poses a danger to more than just Gensokyo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After a long break, I'm back with the second part of this series. I'll do my best to stay on a regular update schedule this time. In contrast to the last part, most of the YYH cast will make an appearance this time.

Sanae thinks that time must pass differently in Gensokyo.  

That, or her sense of time is just awful.

She loses track of the days that surely must have become weeks and maybe even months, and wonders why she feels the way she does.  She finds things have mostly returned to normal; she resumes her shrine duties without difficulty, sees her worshippers and performs miracles, even goes to help solve an incident with the others.  Things are even better now than when she left.  She feels more confident, more powerful, more capable.

Or so she likes to tell herself.

“So, hey, did you guys hear a voice when you were in the mausoleum, too?” Marisa asks from across the kotatsu, a plate of dango half-eaten in front of her.  

“Yeah,” Reimu says from beside her, arms crossed over her chest as she rests her eyes tiredly.  Sanae has noticed that she always seem to take a few days to recover after an incident, seemingly exhausted by the sudden change in pace from their usual quiet days.  “I think it was Miko.”

Youmu, who sits next to Sanae but distances herself from the table, sitting in seiza with a teacup on her lap, joins in, “She’s an interesting person, isn’t she?” her hesitant tone betraying her true thoughts despite her polite wording.  “She claimed she could understand the desires in one’s heart.  Do you think that’s true?”

“No way,” Marisa scoffs, the last dango in her mouth, “She told me I have no self-control.  What a load of bull.”

No one bothers to point out the irony, but Reimu sighs and shakes her head.  “I don’t see why she would lie about that,” she says, “I believe she’s actually quite perceptive.”

“She may be perceptive when it comes to one’s desires,” Youmu adds, “But perhaps she is not so skilled at interpreting what one’s desires mean.  She thought I was a hermit, and I couldn’t seem to change her mind.”

“Well, you are a little unusual,” Marisa shrugs.  Sanae doesn’t realize they’ve stopped talking until she feels their eyes on her, and pulls her gaze away from the window.  “You okay?” the magician asks.

“Yeah, sorry,” Sanae says, waving off their concern with a small laugh, “Just distracted.”

“So what did she tell you?” Reimu asks curiously.

“Oh, yeah!  What kinds of desires do Gensokyo immigrants have?”  Marisa raises a brow and grins as if expecting some dirty secret.  Sanae rolls her eyes.

“I don’t really remember what she told me,” she lies.  Marisa and Youmu seem to buy it, the disappointment evident in their eyes, but Reimu’s gaze hardens suspiciously.

_“You say you are here to collect faith for your shrine through my defeat,” she’d heard Miko’s whispers as she made her way down the mausoleum corridors, “But that is not what your heart is telling me.”_

“Anyway,” Sanae says, hurriedly moving the focus away from herself, “I hear Myouren Temple is making a move now.”

The occasional incident followed by one last battle to tie things up and then a brief peace time to convince the humans of Gensokyo that their heroes have come through once again--this is the cycle that Sanae has grown accustomed to, and what she feels comfortable with.  Her little adventure to the outside world threw her off routine, and that’s the only reason she feels odd now, she tells herself.  Surely the outside world has forgotten about her by now, and when she visits again in a month or so, everything will be just like when she first arrived; friendly strangers on the street corner whose faces she recognizes.  The flower shop will be doing well, Momoka will be in high spirits and greet her enthusiastically, _“Welcome to Happy Hana!  Can I help you find anything?”_ and Shuuichi….

There’s no reason for her to think about him, actually.  Whether or not he remembers her doesn’t matter, because he was a youkai, and it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.  Still, she entertains the idea, wonders what might have happened if she could have stayed, if she had ignored everything she knows about being a youkai exterminator and given him a chance.  She thinks she might have been happy.

Reimu is discussing the implications of a holy war when the door to the shrine slides open and a harsh gust of wind precedes the arrival of a tengu.  Aya Shameimaru skids to a stop behind Reimu, holding her camera in a white-knuckle grip, eyes wild with the promise of either gossip or newspaper solicitations.

“Reimu, is Yukari here?  She told me to meet her here,” she says, talking a mile a minute despite her breathlessness and shedding black feathers all over the tatami floor.  “This is the biggest scoop since I published the story on the Moriya shrine conspiracy,”

(“Which wasn’t true,” Sanae says, going unheard as Aya continues to talk over her,)

“I already have the layout all figured out, it’s going to be great!  It’ll be the front page story--better yet, it can be a special!”

“What is it?” Reimu asked, already on edge for another incident, “Myouren Temple?”

“Better,” Aya says, beaming, “News from the outside world!”

Sanae feels her heartbeat quickening at the words.  “You went outside the boundary?” she asks.

Loving nothing better than a willing audience, Aya wedges herself in beside Reimu despite the shrine maiden’s disapproving glance, grinning conspiratorially and lowering her voice.  “I was sent on a top-secret mission,” she begins, “To be the first Gensokyo resident to witness and report on a special event unique to the outside world--the Dark Martial Arts Tournament!”

No longer able to feign disinterest, Reimu, Marisa and Youmu all lean over the table.  “Dark...what?” Marisa asks.

“It’s a fighting tournament,” the tengu explains, “It’s actually organized by wealthy humans, but all of the fighting is done by youkai.”

“I don’t get it,” Reimu interrupts, “Do they pay the youkai?  Why would they fight on their behalf?”

“Would you just listen?” Aya snaps, growing impatient, and the shrine maiden glowers but doesn’t speak.  “As I was saying,” she continues, looking pointedly at Reimu, “The youkai enter the tournament in teams, and they fight consecutive battles.  The winning team gets anything they want from the tournament committee.  Of course, since this is the outside world,” her red eyes sparkle in a way that is unique to the youkai, and the girls shudder, “They don’t use spell card rules.”

“So they fight to the death?” Youmu asks uneasily.

“Exactly.  It’s apparently a very popular form of entertainment.  Humans and youkai both come from far away just to watch.”

“Barbaric,” Reimu murmurs, but Aya shrugs.

“It makes for good journalism.”

“Is the whole outside just overrun with youkai?” Marisa asks, sounding more excited than fearful, “And do they fight all the time?  Is it like every man for himself out there?”

“It’s not,” Sanae assures her, but finds herself ignored again as Aya taps a sharp nail to her chin thoughtfully.

“Hm.  I don’t know,” she answers, “I didn’t really see that much of it.  The Tournament is held on an island, so the mainland might be different.”

_The mainland,_ Sanae thinks, barely able to suppress a smile, as if there’s only one mainland in the outside world.

“You guys should’ve seen it,” Aya says, grinning smugly in a way that implies she likes to be the only one who did, “It was incredible.  The most surprising part was the winning team, though--it was made up of youkai and humans.  The humans were pretty spunky, but of course the youkai weren’t pushovers, either.  One was a kitsune….”

Sanae tunes her out as she goes on to describe the carnage, though her eyes flick over the faces of the other girls, a mix of shock and horror.  Sanae herself is still trying to figure out what Aya is talking about, because she’s an “outside world” native, and she hasn’t once heard of this tournament or anything like it.  Youkai in the modern day are little more than urban legends outside of Gensokyo; of course they’re still around, but they’re quiet about it, and there’s no way they have their own fighting tournament.

Then again, when she thinks of Shuuichi, she knows there are a few surprises in the outside world still, things she doesn’t fully understand, like how a youkai can inhabit a human body and deceive her.

Not actively, she reminds herself.  Shuuichi never claimed to be human, after all.  She just assumed because of how handsome and kind and wonderful….

“Anyway, I took lots of pictures and notes,” Aya says, and Sanae tries to pay attention again, “So now I just need to meet with Yukari, and then I’m going to start writing up a news story.  I can’t wait to print this!”

“You will not be printing this,” comes the strangely stern voice of the boundary demon as the air over the kotatsu suddenly chills and a gap elegantly framed with red bows appears, sending out a ripple of distortion.  Sanae and the others stumble back from the table in surprise, except for Reimu, who remains sitting peacefully where she was, either unfazed or unwilling to give a reaction as Yukari slowly climbs out of the gap, folding fan covering her mouth and her lower half hidden in time and space.

“Yukari,” Reimu greets, “You sent Aya to the outside world?”

“I did.  Desperate times,” Yukari sighs.

“Desperate times?”

“Never mind.”  Her eyes show that she’s smiling, but her voice makes it sound forced.  “Could you ladies give Aya and I a moment?  I’ll let you know when we’re finished.”

Gensokyo’s heroes exchange wary glances but eventually stand from the kotatsu and head outside.  

“What do you think that’s all about?” Marisa asks.

Reimu is quiet, eyes on the door of the shrine that Aya shuts with a wink, before she turns away.  “I don’t know,” she says, though it’s clearly still on her mind, “Sanae, you mentioned something about Myouren Temple earlier?”

“Oh.  Yeah,” Sanae says, “Well, I guess the youkai were concerned about Miko’s resurrection even before all this, but now that it’s a very real problem, I hear they’re preparing some kind of response, calling in a youkai from….”  She pauses, not having drawn the connection before.  “The outside world.”

Nobody speaks for a moment.  Marisa is, of course, the first to break the silence.  “That can’t be a coincidence, can it?” she asks, “I mean, Aya just came in all excited about a youkai tournament in the outside world.”

“I heard about it earlier today, but I didn’t know about the tournament yet,” Sanae says, “Now it seems hard not to connect the two.”

“Yukari and Aya do not seem to want to share their information with us,” Youmu says, crossing her arms over her chest, “We should investigate on our own and make a preemptive strike rather than wait for the danger to come to us.”

“I agree,” Reimu says, and Marisa lets out an enthusiastic, “yeah!” holding her broom over her head.  

Sanae doesn’t move.

“What about you?” Youmu prompts.

The wind priestess looks at her feet before meeting her friend’s face.  “Go on ahead,” she says, “I’ll catch up with you.”

Marisa and Youmu charge on ahead, but Reimu lingers a moment, only leaving when Sanae gives a reassuring smile that vanishes the moment the shrine maiden is out of sight.  

_“Your desires are so noisy,” Miko had said to her, “Numerous and fighting for dominance, they are opposing one another.  You cannot even tell what it is you truly want anymore, can you?”_

_Sanae had stopped moving in the hallway then, eyes glaring into space since she couldn’t see her opponent yet._

_“And if you do not even know what you want,” Miko said, “Then you do not really know who you are.”_

*

Word trickles back to Sanae over the course of the next day that the youkai from the outside world--a tanuki--was defeated and the threat neutralized.  As she’s sweeping the leaves from the stone path to Moriya Shrine, Kanako materializes a few feet in front of her, snake-like eyes narrowed in a way that tells Sanae she probably should have gone with the others to take care of it.

“You never went,” the sky god says.  

Sanae shrugs.

“You’ve been acting strangely ever since you came back from outside the barrier.”

“No I haven’t,” Sanae says, too quickly, too defensively.  “Look, that has nothing to do with it.  The youkai wasn’t a problem anyway.  Reimu and the others handled it.”

“If there is an opportunity to collect faith, you take it,” Kanako scolds her.

Sanae throws the broom on the ground.  “The number of people who came by the shrine for miracles today was no smaller than usual,” she says, voice raising in exasperation, “We’re not exactly in a faith crisis right now.  We never have been.  I perform miracles, I make daily visits to the human village so people don’t forget we’re here, and I preach about you and Suwako every chance I get, so why are we always scrambling for faith like it’s running out or something?”

Kanako’s eyes widen slightly in shock, and Sanae doesn’t realize she’s snapped at her for another moment.  A light breeze makes her hair tickle the back of her neck, whispering something.  She shivers.

“Sanae,” Kanako says, voice dangerously low, “This is not something I feel I should have to explain to you.  If you really don’t understand, then let me assure you that it will make perfect sense someday.”

“You always say that,” Sanae says, “About everything.  It’s always someday, or some other nebulous deadline.  Obviously, I’m a moron, because I don’t get any of this stuff any better than I did when we first left for Gensokyo.”  Her throat tightens.  “All this time, I’ve been doing things because someone else has told me what to do.  You, or Suwako, or Reimu--somebody tells me what I’m supposed to do, and I’ve done it.  But I don’t feel….”

_I don’t belong here,_ the wind cries.  She squeezes her eyes shut.

“I don’t feel right,” she chokes.  

She wipes her face on her sleeve, trying to dab at tears that are only just forming.  Kanako doesn’t say a word, and when she looks again, the sky god has vanished, choosing to leave rather than explain anything.  

_Like always._

“Fine,” Sanae mutters, “Fine!  Fuck you!  Fuck all of this!  Fuck being a priestess, and...and…!”

A timid, high-pitched voice from somewhere behind her timidly calls her name, and Sanae whirls around to see Suwako crouched uneasily on the stone path, head tilted to the side, the eyes on her hat staring at her in what she imagines is a concerned manner.

“Wh-what?” Sanae asks hoarsely, embarrassed at her outburst being witnessed by the generally more sympathetic of her two gods.  

“I think they’re calling for you at Hakurei Shrine.”  Sanae nods, bending to pick up the broom and put it away.  “But maybe you shouldn’t go right now.”

“No, it’s fine,” Sanae says, clearing her throat, “I should go.  I need something to do.”

Suwako’s large, childlike eyes stare up at her and Sanae has to look away, feeling as though the earth god might see something Sanae doesn’t want to show her.  “If you’re certain,” Suwako says eventually, and Sanae takes that as her dismissal.

*

To Sanae’s surprise, Yukari is there, too, leaning out of her gap to reach for a teacup.  “There you are,” she says.  Sanae notices Reimu sitting at her usual spot, but something’s wrong.  She doesn’t look anxious like when there’s an incident to be solved or agitated like when one of her youkai guests is causing problems.  

She looks frightened.

“Moriya priestess,” Yukari says, drawing her attention back to her, “We have another incident on our hands.”

“Already?” Sanae asks.

“Yes.  And it’s not one Gensokyo is well-equipped to handle, because the danger comes from outside.”

Sanae has heard that word in the last couple days more than she ever did in the last few months combined.  She’s starting to wonder if Marisa’s mention of it not being a coincidence might have some weight.  “What do you mean?  What’s the problem?”

“It’s the barrier,” Reimu says anxiously, “Yukari thinks it’s in danger.”

A silence settles over the room.  Sanae looks between the two of them and waits for someone to speak, but not one does.  “The barrier?” she repeats in disbelief, “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing,” Yukari says, “Yet.”

“And what does that mean?”

“I’m not certain.”  Sanae has had just about enough of vague warnings from powerful, supposedly omniscient beings, but Yukari continues before she can say as much, “I hope you haven’t gotten tired of the outside world already, because I’d like you and Reimu to go there and investigate.”  Reimu looks like she’d rather die.  “The Great Hakurei Barrier is not something that’s easily disturbed,” the boundary demon says, and Sanae settles in for a long story.  “It has existed for centuries now, and, aside from the occasional, odd incident,” here, she pauses and looks pointedly at Sanae, who only stares back, not feeling particularly happy with being labeled an occasional, odd incident, “has held up quite nicely.  As someone familiar with the barrier, I can tell the difference between a minor fluctuation and a major shift.  And this is not something to overlook.”  

Yukari closes her eyes, pausing for a moment, and Sanae is perturbed at just how uneasy even the boundary demon looks.  “It’s little more than a rumor,” she murmurs, “And a tremor.  Portents of things to come.  Unfortunately, I’ll have to leave the explanation to someone else.”

“Wait,” Sanae says, standing, “You can’t just--!”

Before she can get another word in, the air in front of her distorts as a hole in reality opens and closes with a ripple, and Yukair is gone.

“That’s it?” Sanae asks, turning on her heel to look at Reimu.  “Everyone tells me to hurry up and come home, and then I get some vague nonsense like this telling me to go back?”

The shrine maiden frowns.  “Yukari has a contact in the outside world,” she says simply, “For once, we shouldn’t hold it against her for making a hasty exit.  She’s worried, that’s all; if we fail, she’s prepared to maintain the barrier singlehandedly.”

Nobody says what they’re thinking, which is that the power necessary to maintain such a barrier would turn a human into a lifeless husk in moments, and even someone as powerful as the boundary demon would suffer greatly to attempt a similar ordeal.  

“If this is as serious as you guys are saying, I don’t understand why we’re not getting more help,” Sanae says, “Shouldn’t we go get the others?”

“No,” Reimu sighs, sounding distressed, “Yukari and I have spoken on this matter extensively, and we agreed that only sending you and I is the best move.”  She pauses.  “Because then,” she continues, voice suddenly timid, “If we fail, someone will still be here to protect Gensokyo.”


	2. Chapter 2

Sanae doesn’t want to say that she’s enjoying seeing her friend out of her element for once, but she really is.

“Reimu,” she says gently, “You don’t have to stand so far away from the street.”

The shrine maiden shoots her a distrustful glare from where she’s plastered against the back wall of the bus shelter.  Sanae knows that there are a lot of things that Reimu has never seen before, but it’s one thing to know she’s never seen a motorized vehicle and another to see her take cover and hide from one, her eyes cautious as she tries to decide whether or not it’s going to attack.

And Sanae might even be laughing openly if not for Reimu’s obvious distress, because for all of the youkai she’s fought in her life, she’s seen more things that she can’t explain in the last few minutes since her arrival in the outside world than she has in Gensokyo her whole life.  Neon signs, skyscrapers, even modern Japanese fashion; all of it is alien to her, and Sanae does wish she could’ve found out in some other way. Reimu has had a passing interest in the outside world, but her devotion to her duty as a shrine maiden and an anxiety that she would never admit to anyone has kept her from ever stepping foot outside of Gensokyo.  

It’s unfortunate that she doesn’t even have time to enjoy it, because they’re there to save the world, not take in the sights.

A cold wind blows through the streets and Sanae shivers and rubs her arms.  She doesn’t want to blame Kanako or Yukari for their decision; she knows they’d rather send all of them, Sakuya and Youmu and Marisa, despite the warning, because they can’t afford to fail.  But they had little choice; Sanae is the most familiar with the outside world, and Reimu is the most experienced at solving incidents.

It’s easy to rationalize, but harder to believe it, Sanae thinks.  Headlights appear in the distance and she turns back to Reimu and tells her to come out.  These are the kinds of things she’s always wanted to share with her friends from Gensokyo; take a city bus, explore downtown, eat foreign foods.  It would be nice to be the one who instinctively knows what’s going on for once rather than the person who always needs to be told about local customs and rituals.

But not like this.

Reimu is normally so sure of herself, so graceful and nonchalant, but not now.  As the bus slows to a stop, Reimu hides behind her, and Sanae reaches back and offers her hand, more surprised when Reimu actually takes it and holds on tight as she leads her onto the bus.  She pays for both of them and walks down the aisle, looking for two open seats.  She waits for a quip, a smart remark, a deadpan comment, but nothing ever comes.  Reimu looks around at everything like a curious child but there’s fear in her eyes, terror for the alien world she’s been thrust into.

“Hey,” Sanae says, and Reimu snaps to attention, looking away from the window.  “Just relax.  We have a long ride ahead of us.”

It’s useless advice—Reimu isn’t likely to relax until they’re back on Gensokyo's soil—but it brings a timid smile to Reimu’s lips to know that she’s not alone.

Sanae returns it and then glances at the passing countryside.  Yukari’s contact lives in the mountains, as well, though not close to the Hakurei Shrine.  Kanako gave them only what information was absolutely necessary; directions, and the woman’s name—Genkai.  Whatever this danger is has all of Gensokyo running scared, as Sanae can remember the way that even her god had spoken tersely, posture rigid and eyes glancing nervously towards the door each time the wind blew.

Sanae, too, is afraid, if only because of all of the fear she sees, even without knowing the nature of what danger they’re in.

*

Their destination is surprisingly familiar.  A long bus ride takes them only briefly through civilization before they’re back in the mountains, passing lakes and roadside shrines.  Sanae tugs on Reimu’s sleeve when they get to their stop, a spot of land with the grass razed and nothing more than a rusty bus sign.  Sanae unfolds the sheet of paper Yukari had given to them prior to their departure with directions to their eventual destination and glances up the trail.  “Looks like it’s a bit of a walk,” she says.  Reimu shrugs, unfazed; she looks like she’d rather walk a thousand miles than take the bus ten more.

The walk takes little more than half an hour, and after climbing a long staircase of stone steps carved into the side of the mountain, they finally come to a temple, old but beautifully maintained and reminiscent of Gensokyo.  “You’re earlier than I thought you’d be,” someone says.  Down the path on the temple porch is an elderly woman who stands at the sight of the two girls.  Reimu and Sanae glance at one another before returning their attention to her.

“Um, excuse me,” Sanae says, “Are you Genkai?”

“I am,” the old woman says, meeting them halfway down the path walking slowly with her hands clasped behind her back.  She’s small, smaller even than the already petite Reimu, with graying hair and the robes of a martial artist.  Despite her hunched posture and the wrinkles on her face, Sanae doubts this woman is an ordinary human.  She’s acquainted with the boundary demon, after all.  “Yukari told me to keep an eye out for you, but didn’t say when.”  She sighs.  “Though I suppose I should know better than to expect a concrete time frame from that woman.”  Sanae sees Reimu’s lips quirk with an almost-smile at the comment.  “She didn’t give me your names, either.”

“Hakurei, Reimu,” the shrine maiden introduces herself.

Sanae nods.  “And I’m Kochiya, Sanae.”

“Well, Reimu, Sanae, welcome,” Genkai says, gesturing with her head back towards the temple, “Let’s go inside.  I’m sure you’re tired.”

Genkai tells them to get comfortable and makes tea, and Sanae watches Reimu glancing out the window trying to get her bearings.  “How is Gensokyo this time of year?” Genkai asks when she returns with a tray, kettle and three cups, setting it on the table between them.

“It’s nice,” Reimu says, “The weather is mild.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Sanae says, “How did you meet Yukari, or find out about Gensokyo for that matter?  You’re a native to the outside world, aren’t you?”

Genkai nods.  “I am.  But that woman isn’t the type to be restricted by world boundaries.”  She smiles a bit as though remembering something.  “I’ve made a name for myself as a martial artist.  I’ve fought a lot of youkai in my time, and despite the lawless rabble they may seem to be, they’ll band together if they sense a threat.”

“So they saw you as a threat?” Sanae asks.

Genkai chuckles.  “Something like that.  I wasn’t hunted actively, but I crossed paths with quite a few.  Despite their fear, however, I’ve learned that youkai find power attractive.  Even if it’s on the opposing side, power has a certain allure.  My power drew the boundary demon to me when I was still young.”  She takes a long sip of tea.  “Remind me to tell you the rest of that story some other time.  We have more important things to discuss, such as the nature of your stay.”

The relaxed atmosphere in the room vanishes, and in its place returns the ominous silence that hung over them in Gensokyo.  Sanae takes a deep breath.  “Right,” she says, “What should we expect?”

Genkai almost smirks.  “One of the most engrossing and miserable experiences the outside world has to offer in the modern era.”

The next words that come out of her mouth are shocking, and Sanae looks to Reimu, who is once again rigid with fear, and knows they have a long night of preparation ahead of them.

*

Sanae wakes up before the sun has even risen.  By the time Reimu is stirring, she’s already showered, gotten dressed and had breakfast.  “Good morning,” she tells the shrine maiden as she drags out of the bedroom.  

“Where’s Genkai?” Reimu mutters, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Stepped out earlier.  She left a note,” Sanae says, gesturing towards the table.  Reimu doesn’t read it, reaching past it for the rice bowl Sanae prepared instead.  

“Today’s the first day of our investigation,” Reimu says quietly.

Sanae nods.

“You’ve done this sort of thing before.  What should I expect?”  She keeps her gaze on her breakfast, but Sanae still notices the anxiety she’s trying to hide.

“Hard to say,” Sanae shrugs,” But honestly, I think you’ll be fine.  We only have to be here as long as it takes to discover the source of Yukari’s nervousness and resolve the problem.”  Reimu doesn’t look convinced, so Sanae leans over the table smiling reassuringly.  “It’ll be easy, Reimu.  Just pretend you’re in the human village, in a store or something investigating an incident, but you have to be undercover to do it.  It’s not so different from being back home.”  Reimu looks up suddenly.  “What?”

“You called it home,” the shrine maiden says.

Sanae shrugs.  “For your benefit.  It’s home to you.”

“It’s home to you, too, isn’t it?”

Sanae doesn’t answer.  “Let’s get ready to go, okay?”

Reimu frowns but nods, and finishes eating.  “Hey.  Sanae.”

“Yeah?”  She looks back at Reimu and has to admit that it’s strange to see her in something other than red and white--blue just looks odd on her, not to mention the yellow ribbon in her hand that she can’t seem to attach to the uniform.

“...how do I tie this?”

*

Cherry blossoms swirl lazily to the ground on the pathway that leads to the front doors of the junior high school, and banners hang across the gates welcoming students to the new term.  Sanae has always enjoyed this time of year the most for the warm springs that always come with it and the beautiful flowers that wake from their winter slumber to bloom.  She liked school, liked coming back after the break to see her classmates again, liked seeing new faces.  It always put her in high spirits.

Today, however, she is feeling on edge.

She has a lot on her mind; she has to keep on the lookout for something that has Yukari spooked about the barrier protecting Gensokyo, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little concerned about Reimu.  It’s not that the shrine maiden is stupid--far from it, really.  Sanae doesn’t doubt she’d have achieved great academic success if she’d been born in the outside world.  But Reimu has never had a formal education, at least not to the standards of modern Japan, and has never been to school before.  Of course, Sanae is less concerned about her grades and more worried about how Reimu will interact with her classmates whom she’ll have nothing in common with.  She doesn’t know why Yukari went to the trouble of forging the paperwork necessary to get them both enrolled in schools near where she wants them on the lookout and didn’t have them in the same school.  Of course they’ll be covering more ground, but there’s no way she can really expect Reimu to do well in that kind of setting when she’s so unfamiliar with the outside world.

But the most immediate worry Sanae has is the overwhelmingly dark aura hanging in the air all around her new school.  Whether or not it’s related to the barrier, Sanae knows something is very wrong here.  She isn’t sure if it’s a youkai, or a lot of youkai, or something else altogether, but whatever it is, she has some investigating to do.

Sanae finds her classroom easily enough, and her teacher has her come in and write her name on the board.  She’s just brushing the chalk off of her hands and trying not to get it onto her uniform--pink is not her color--when something sticks out to her in the sea of her classmate’s faces, something that makes her breath catch in her throat and her heart stop.

“Starting this term,” her teacher says, “We’ll have a new student joining us.”  Sanae realizes she’s supposed to introduce herself, but it takes her a moment to tear her eyes away, clear her throat, and stop her knees from shaking.

“Um, I’m Kochiya, Sanae,” she stammers, “I moved here from, uh, Nagano.  I hope we’ll all get along.”

Her class welcomes her and she takes an open seat towards the back by the window.  She tries to keep her gaze forward and her mind on whatever her teacher is saying, but she can feel eyes on her, burning holes into her, and slowly, she dares to glance to her right.  Red hair, bright green eyes, a beautiful face.  There’s no mistaking it for anyone else.  

Sitting on the far side of the classroom and staring at her intently is Shuuichi Minamino.

*

The moment their lunch break starts, Sanae stands from her desk and makes a beeline for the bathroom, but Shuuichi is waiting just outside the classroom door, leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed over his chest.  Their eyes meet again and Sanae doesn’t know what else to do, so she decides to play dumb.  If he’s forgotten about her, seeing her again might make him feel like he knows her from somewhere.  She tells herself the intensity in his gaze is him trying to figure out how he knows her rather than some kind of simmering rage.

“Oh.  Hi,” she says, “Um.  I’m not sure which way the restroom is.  Could you tell me?”

To her surprise, he actually straightens up and looks to his right.  “At the end of the hall on the left,” he says, pointing, but before she can leave, he says, “You’re new this year, aren’t you?  I’m Minamino, Shuuichi.  If you haven’t been given a tour already, I’d be happy to show you around the school.”  He gives a warm smile and her heart melts and aches simultaneously.  She doesn’t want to like him and have him like her and then have to leave all over again.  

She smiles back.  “I really appreciate it,” she says, “But actually I’ve already gotten my bearings.  Thank you anyway.”  

Shuuichi’s smile falters for half a second.  “Please.  I insist, Sanae.”  Sanae suddenly feels colder under his stare.

Something tells her he didn’t forget after all.

*

Shuuichi opens the door that leads out onto the roof of the school and Sanae shivers at the sudden harsh wind and feeling of deja vu.  “Are students allowed up here?” she asks.

He dodges the question.  “This is the only place I can think of where we won’t have eavesdroppers.”

Sanae keeps her eyes on him at all times as she goes to lean against the metal fence at the edge of the roof on the far side, smiling a little bitterly.  “You know, my old school didn’t have a fence like this,” she says, “There was a guard rail, but it was only like a foot high.  If I’d gone here, I would’ve had to find some other way to disappear.”

Shuuichi doesn’t say anything for a moment, seemingly distracted and staring past her into the distance.

“So,” she says uncomfortably, “I guess you still remember me.”

“I said I would, didn’t I?”

She shrugs.  You’re not the first person to say that.

“I was surprised,” Shuuichi says, still not looking directly at her even as he comes to stand beside her, gazing through the fence.  “Not only are we going to the same school, but we’re even in the same class.  I would have thought that you’d arranged this on purpose, but the look on your face when you saw me makes me think this was not your doing.”

Sanae’s frown deepens.  “No, it wasn’t.  I’m here to take care of something again, kind of like with the keukegen.  Except this is a lot bigger.”

“What are you looking for this time?”

“Believe me, I’d like all the help I can get, but I honestly don’t know.”  Sanae sighs, relaxing a little.  “I actually didn’t come back on my own.  A friend of mine is attending Sarayashiki Junior High right now.”

Shuuichi’s gaze suddenly shifts to her.  “Sarayashiki?”

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t make any threatening gestures--he doesn’t move at all, actually--but his energy flares up in a way that tells her he’s thinking hard about something.  “You said you’re here for something more important than the keukegen,” he says, “So can it be assumed that you also came on orders from someone else, rather than as a personal choice?”  
Sanae nods slowly.

“Who sent you?”

She meets his eyes, albeit reluctantly, trying to figure out why he’s so on edge suddenly.  “A youkai, actually,” she says, “A very important one.”

“And what did this youkai send you here to do?”

She’s not sure she should be telling him any of this, but on the other hand, she doesn’t see how it could hurt anything.  “Investigate something.  There’s this huge barrier--it’s a long story--and the youkai is worried because there's something’s wrong with it.  I think.  She wasn’t very clear.”

At the word barrier, Shuuichi becomes tense, and Sanae thinks she’s said about enough.  “Sanae, where did you go when you left the last time I saw you?” he asks.

“That’s also a long story,” Sanae says, “And I know you want an explanation, but I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to talk about this stuff.”  Not that she’s especially concerned about the unwritten rules right now--Shuuichi just looks unhappy, and he only gets worse with every new thing she says.

Shuuichi mulls over her words for a moment, turning away from her again.  “What you’ve told me is interesting for a number of reasons,” he murmurs, “I didn’t tell you this before, but I work with a few others--another youkai and two humans--and together we do something like what you do; policing youkai that get out of hand.  The humans I work with actually go to the school you mentioned.”  Sanae has to admit it’s an odd coincidence.  Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have made the connection or bothered to worry about it, but there have been a lot of “coincidences” piling up.  “In fact, the four of us returned not long ago from a mission that turned out to have quite a bit more going on behind the scenes than we initially thought.  For instance, there was a man who aimed to bypass the barrier between this world and the Demon World to allow youkai to run freely.”

“Demon World?” Sanae repeats curiously.

Shuuichi pauses.  “This won’t do,” he says after a moment, smiling a bit, “If we’re going to help one another understand the big picture, we’ll need to make sure we each have all the pieces.”

“Oh.”  Sanae thinks Reimu should probably be present for an exchange of information.  “Well, like I’ve been saying, it’s a long story.  Maybe we should meet up some time outside of school.”

“My thoughts exactly.  Where are you staying?”

“With an acquaintance of an acquaintance.  She’s a martial artist who lives in a temple in the mountains.”

“That wouldn’t happen to be Genkai by any chance, would it?”

Sanae stops.  She’s going to stop using the word coincidence when that’s clearly not the case.  “Let me guess, you know who that is?”

“I’ve worked with her before,” he supplies.  “I’ll stop by some time when I have a moment.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Sanae.”  Shuuichi is suddenly a bit closer--or maybe she’s just noticing that he got closer just now.  Heat rises to her face.  “I’m glad you came back.”

She nods.  “Yeah,” she says quietly, smiling genuinely as the ache in her chest vanishes, “Me, too.”

*

Sanae expects to find Reimu terrified and clinging to a signpost when she goes to meet her after school at the nearest bus stop, but instead, she finds her standing on the sidewalk nonchalantly with her nose buried in a book.  “Reimu?” Sanae says, wondering if she’s just seeing things, but the shrine maiden looks up at her.  “How’d it go?”

“Fine,” she answers, shutting the book, “Actually, very well.  I became acquainted with most of my classmates.  They seem to like me.”

Sanae is speechless.  She knows it’s a good thing, and that she won’t have to worry now, but she can’t help but feel a little...what?  She isn’t sure, but she has this weird, twisting feeling in her stomach at the thought of Reimu, who knows nothing about the outside world, acclimating to public school on her face day with the same ease and grace she shows when exterminating youkai.  She seems happy, almost, setting her book into her schoolbag with a small smile like she’s proud of something, no sign that she struggled or was bullied or ostracized by her classmates.  Nothing like what Sanae went through.  It almost makes her jealous.

She’s not, though.  That would be just petty, and Sanae isn’t petty.  She’s got nothing to be jealous of, not Reimu’s poise or natural beauty or….

“Sanae?” Reimu asks, and the wind priestess returns to the present.  “I asked if you’re okay.  How did it go for you?”

“Great,” Sanae says, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, “It was awesome, it was a great day.  I love school.”  She ungracefully changes the subject.  “You know, I think there’s someone who can help us solve this incident.  He’s from the outside world, but he’s not….”

Sanae pauses.  He’s not human would be an easy way to put Reimu on edge.  They both deal with youkai regularly, but Sanae knows that Reimu’s trust is hard-earned, and of all of the youkai she’s ever dealt with, there are only a handful that she willingly associates with.

“He’s not normal,” Sanae says after a moment, “For someone from the outside world, anyway.”  She doesn’t want to lie, but she thinks it would be better to have Shuuichi present so he can speak for himself.  

“A bit of help certainly wouldn’t be unwelcome,” Reimu says, “But I’d rather not need to protect someone if there are dangerous youkai involved.”

Sanae laughs.  “Ah, that’s alright.  He can take care of himself.”

The shrine maiden shrugs, unconvinced, but at least the door is still open.  The bus pulls up and Reimu actually gets on first and even pays for herself, finding them both a seat towards the back.  “I’m afraid I don’t have anything to contribute,” Reimu speaks up again once they’re moving, “I didn’t sense anything unusual all day.  Of course, we’ll need more time to do a more thorough investigation of the surrounding area.”

“I felt something near my school,” Sanae says, “But it’ll probably take some time getting to the bottom of it.  I’m not convinced it’s related to the rest of this, though.  Could be just some stray spirits.”  She glances out the window.  “Something’s been bothering me, though.  We seriously have no idea what we’re looking for.  Yukari was just so vague.  I mean, I know she isn’t the most direct most of the time anyway, but you’d think with all of Gensokyo in danger, she’d give us a little more to go on.  It seems suspicious, right?”

“Just because I work with Yukari often doesn’t mean I know how she works any better than you do,” Reimu points out, “But I agree, it’s strange.”

Strange, Sanae thinks, is an understatement.  But she doesn’t have enough information to determine anything else, so she’ll just have to be patient.  

Admittedly, knowing the fate of the world rests on their shoulders doesn’t make the waiting easy.


End file.
